Overcoming Afflictions

In the second chapter of the Yoga Sutra - the Sadhana Pada, Patanjali explains two methods for controlling the distracted mind - the first he calls Kriya Yoga, or the yoga of action, and the second he calls Ashtanga Yoga - the eight-fold path.

For those who are afflicted by ignorance (avidya), ego (asmita), desire (raga), aversion (dvesha) and the fear of death (abinivesha), he recommends - purifying practice (tapas), Self-study (svadhyaya) and surrender to the higher nature (ishvara pranidhana).

By ignorance (avidya) Patanjali is referring to the fact that we do not know our true nature. It is not ignorance in the common sense of the word, but lack of awareness of the inner Self.

In the first chapter, Patanajli explains that yoga is Samadhi and that through Samadhi one is able to identify with the true inner nature of being. Samadhi is a natural state that should be experienced by all healthy individuals but due to our unhealthy lifestyles, it is a condition that has been mostly lost today.

Because we do not experience samadhi - which is the experience of pure consciousness or the true Self as distinct from the mind and its activities - we do not understand our true nature or identity.

From this lack of understanding we develop ego (asmita) - an identification with the activities, successes and failures of our embodied existence. This ego acts as a substitute for the authentic Self.

Through this identification of ego - we become attached to the sensual pleasures through the body and become pained when those pleasures are denied to us - these are called raga and dvesha.

And through this identification with the body, we fail to recognize that our true essence is pure consciousness, that is eternal, deathless and independent of the physical nature. As a result of this we believe that death of the body is the end to existence. This is the meaning of abhinivesha.

This fear of death or survival instinct underlies all fears. If you know yourself to be pure consciousness, independent of the mind and body - what is there to fear? What can harm you?

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The remedy for these afflictions is tapas - intense purifying practice - svadhyaya - study of the Self - and Ishvara Pranidhana - identification with the higher nature - or pure consciousness (the Self).

These three practices reduce the five afflictions (five klesha) and facilitate the experience of Samadhi.

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For those, whose suffering is still deeper, Patanjali recommends the practice of Ashtanga Yoga. These eight limbs of yoga are - yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi.

Yama and Niyama are the ten commandments of yoga - the first is ahimsa - which means to cause no harm.

While moral behavior protects others and cultivates harmonious and healthy society, Patanjali's teaching is primarily about personal health and well-being that is attainable through the practice of meditation.

What stands in the way of our health? What stands in the way of experiencing Samadhi?

The self-inflicted harm we have caused to ourselves - our bad habits - our unhealthy lifestyle, our poor diet, sleeping habits - our departure from what is natural and wholesome. This is what prevents us from experiencing samadhi. Samadhi is nothing but a deep state of peace.

All the limbs of yoga are subcategories of ahimsa - they correct for the fundamental harm we cause to ourselves.

The second yama is satya, or telling the truth, the third is asteya, not stealing, brahmacharya is the protection against squandering our vital energy, aparigraha is protection against greed. Shaucha is protection against physical and mental toxicity. These are all stresses that make us unhealthy and incapable of deep concentration or absorption in samadhi.

We are never content - always stressed - samtosha means contentment from which, according to Patanjali, the ultimate happiness is derived.

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We are constantly desiring something. We believe that getting what we desire will bring us happiness but we find that we are never truly happy. Even if we get what we want, pretty soon we want more.

Yoga explains that happiness is a quality of the soul. We do not experience it because we are stressed. When we get what we desire, that stress is eliminated for a moment and as a result, the natural inner bliss of the soul is revealed.

It is not the object that makes us happy. Attaining the object just reduces our stress temporarily - the happiness comes from inside.

A true and deep happiness comes from contentment - samtosha.

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The last three niyamas have already been mentioned - tapas - discipline or purifying practice, svadhyaya - Self study and Ishvara Pranidhana - drawing close to the true inner Self.

The most important tapas in yoga is food disciple - you are what you eat - literally!

Your body - and that includes your brain and nervous system is made of the food you eat. If you live on hamburgers and french fries, you will have a mind like Donald Trump.

Instead of being able to find deep peace, you will be tweeting into the small hours in response to all the personal sleights and attacks you will imagine have been targeted at you.

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Asana is the next step. Asana can be understood in two senses - on the one hand asana means a comfortable seated position suitable for meditation - on the other hand asana can be thought of as practice that leads you to attain a comfortable posture - in the same way that the word yoga can mean either the state of yoga (samadhi) - or the practices required in order to achieve the state of yoga.

Once asana is established, the next step is pranayama. In the ashtanga practice, rudimentary pranayama is already integrated into the way we practice asana. But to get to the next stages of deeper concentration and meditation, we need to develop a seated practice of pranayama that includes not just lengthening and control of breath, but also the suppression or holding of breath.

Pranayama is perhaps the most important tool in yoga - it is the principal way to control the mind. Mind and breath are intimately connected and pranayama is the gateway to deeper concentration - or the internal limbs of yoga.

The first four limbs are external - dealing with the physical body and the last three limbs are internal - leading towards samadhi through concentration and meditation.

The fifth limb, pratyahara is an intermediate step that takes one from the external to the internal - pratyahara means sense withdrawal and it leads to the internalization or introversion of mind.

Dharana (the sixth step) means concentration and dhyana (seventh step) is usually translated as meditation.

All the limbs of yoga are interconnected. Although ashtanga yoga is often promoted as a step by step method, this interconnection means that the development of any limb implies the simultaneous development of the other limbs to some extent.

For instance, it is impossible to practice asanas without a degree of concentration, or dharana. When you practice asanas you learn how not to hurt yourself (ahimsa) you start to control and deepen your breathing - this is pranayama. Drishti leads towards pratyahara etc..

Dharana means fixing the mind but it also implies that the mind can be distracted and move away from the point of concentration.

Focusing on the bandha is a form of dharana, but we all know that maintaining that focus continuously is almost impossible - at least while we continue to move the body.

Only when you come to seated practice does dharana begin to move towards dhyana. In dharana the mind does not remain continuously fixed - there are distractions but in dhyana (meditation) all thoughts flow in the same direction, all thoughts become identical.

The difference between the two has been explained by comparing the pouring water and oil: when you pour water, droplets form - in the same way - the thoughts formed in concentration are like individual droplets, with spaces in between. When you pour oil, there is a continuous flow - thoughts in meditation are like this - all thoughts flow in the same direction without distraction.

Samadhi is the complete merging of the mind with an object. This is the next stage beyond dhyana. The ashtanga system leads towards samprajnata samadhi - samadhi with seed or samadhi with an object that is meditated upon.

The continuous practice of samprajnata samadhi may eventually lead to the higher level of asamprajnata samadhi - in this case the mind dissolves and only pure consciousness shines.

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